Pop out for pre-Fabric curry

I blame restaurateur Alan Yau. So many new restaurants nowadays are giving us either faux-Wagamamas or mock-Hakkasans or, as is the case with this number, an Indian hybrid of the two.

It's got the functionality and refectory tables (with spectacularly uncomfortable seating) of the former, and the moody, dark drama of the latter. But it's all just slightly wrong: a curry house as club lounge in not quite the right part of Hoxton.

The sultry bar throbs with heavy beats and young thangs, leaving the chilly and somewhat sterile dining room, lit by shafts of fluorescent light from the semi-open kitchen, out in the cold. Oh, and those are initiative tests.

Food is rather better than you'd expect: really fresh and bursting with spice. We loved a huge, lacy dosa stuffed with spiced minced lamb and some melting lamb chops from the bar menu.

A pork belly curry with apples and the sour heat of Southern India was an intriguing departure from the hackneyed. Breads and rice are great. But the environment defies lingering.

Prices are eminently reasonable and the sort-of-grazing set-up means you can eat as much or as little as you like. If you fancy a pre-Fabric Indian, this is for you.

A meal for two with wine, water and service costs about £55. 1 Olivers Yard, City Road EC1. Tel: 0845 262 5262. Tube: Old Street